This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

In Hilyat
al-Awliya’, Imam Abu Nu’aym al-Asfahani (r.a.) reported on the authority of Tsawban (r.a.) that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said, “Whoever relieves a distressed believer, Allah will Grant
him seventy-three counts of Forgiveness, by one of which, He will Amend his
worldly life and afterlife, and the seventy-two, He will Return to him in full
on the Day of Judgment.”

Thereafter, Imam Abu Nu’aym (r.a.) wrote, “It is rare from the hadits of Farqad, and we have only written
it from this route.”

The hadits
has also been reported on the authority of Anas (r.a.) with variations in the wording through several chains. Imam al-Bazzar (r.a.) narrated via Shaykh Ziyad ibn Abi Hasan (r.a.) from Anas (r.a.) as that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said, “Whoever assists a distressed person, Allah will Decree
seventy-three counts of Forgiveness for him, one of which is sufficient for the
betterment of all his affairs and seventy-two will be for the Day of Judgment
or Allah will Keep it for the Day of Judgment.”
This is in Imam al-Bazzar’s (r.a.)
al-Bahr az-Zakhkhar. This chain is inadmissible as the narrator,
Ziyad ibn Abi Hasan has been heavily criticised by Imam ibn Hajr (r.a.) in Lisan al-Mizan, Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.) in Kitab al-Mawdhu’at,
Imam ash-Shawkani (r.a.) in Fawa’id al-Majmu’at, and others.

However, Imam ibn ‘Arraq al-Kinani (r.a.) responded in his Tanzih ash-Shari’ah, “al-Bayhaqi said
that Ziyad is alone in transmitting it, but that is not the case because ibn ‘Abd
ar-Rahman ibn Abi Husayn al-Makki had followed up Ziyad, as related by ibn ‘Asakir.
It was also transmitted from Tsawban (r.a.), which Abu Nu’aym related via
Farqad from Shumayt, the freed slave of Tsawban, and he said, ‘It is rare from
the hadits of Farqad.’ I say, I have not come across the biography of
Shumayt.”

Hence, even if Shaykh Ziyad ibn Abi Hasan (r.a.) is an extremely weak transmitter,
Imam ibn ‘Asakir (r.a.) had given a
chain of transmission that corroborated his report.

In Tarikh
Dimashq, Imam ibn ‘Asakir (r.a.)
narrated via Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Makki (r.a.), from Anas ibn Malik (r.a.)
that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.)
said, “Whoever assists a distressed person, Allah will Grant him seventy-three
counts of Forgiveness; one for the worldly life and seventy-two for the high
ranks of Paradise…”

There is also another corroborating report,
which Imam Abu Nu’aym (r.a.) narrated
via Shaykh Aban (r.a.) from Anas (r.a.) in Akhbar Asfahan that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said, “Whoever assists a distressed person, Allah will Grant
him ninety-three counts of forgiveness, He will Gather the good of the worldly
life and the afterlife, and ninety-two in Elevating his status in Paradise.”

In Tarikh
al-Baghdadi, Khathib al-Baghdadi (r.a.)
narrated via Shaykh Dinar (r.a.), the
freed slave of Anas (r.a.), from Anas
(r.a.) that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said, “Whoever fulfills a
worldly need of his brother, Allah will Fulfill seventy-two needs of his, the
lightest of which is Forgiveness.” Imam
ash-Shawkani (r.a.) in his Fawa’id al-Majmu’at, and Imam al-Ghumari
(r.a.) in his al-Mudhawi, stated that this chain is extremely weak and cannot be
used for corroboration. In this
reference, Imam Ahmad al-Ghumari (r.a.)
also answered the objections posed by Imam al-Munawi (r.a.) in Faydh al-Qadir. Imam ibn ‘Adi (r.a.) in his al-Kamil fi
ad-Du’afa’ also narrated a similar narration via Shaykh ‘Abbad ibn ‘Abd asw-Swamad
(r.a.) from Anas (r.a.). However, this chain is also extremely weak,
according to Imam adz-Dzahabi (r.a.)
in his Mizan al-I’itidal.

A point worth consideration is that in part of
Imam Ahmad al-Ghumari’s (r.a.)
critique in al-Mudhawi of Imam
al-Munawi’s (r.a.) assessment of this
hadits, Imam al-Ghumari (r.a.) took him to task for mentioning
criticism of a certain ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd asw-Swamad, who is not a narrator of
this hadits, nor is he mentioned in at-Tarikh al-Kabir as he claimed. However, it seems Imam al-Munawi (r.a.) recorded the narrator, Shaykh ‘Abbad
ibn ‘Abd asw-Swamad (r.a.), who did
narrate the hadits also, directly
from Anas (r.a.); but, this is with a
separate chain to that which was under discussion. Hence, in his assessment of the hadits, Imam al-Munawi (r.a.) appears to have mistakenly
mentioned the criticism of a different isnad
of the same hadits and this is where
the confusion arose. Imam al-Munawi (r.a.) wrote, “al-Bukhari says, ‘He is munkar al-hadits.’”

In al-Mizan,
it is mentioned, “ibn Hibban wahdahu
and he narrates from Anas’ collection, most of which is filled with
fabrications.” This entire description
fits the narrator, Shaykh ‘Abbad ibn ‘Abd asw-Swamad (r.a.), a narrator of the hadits,
not the fictional ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd asw-Swamad.

Although some of these narrations are weak and
some are more severe in their weakness, because of the multiplicity of the
slightly weak transmissions, the hadits
gains strength and is suitable to mention.